Desi Today Magazine
Jagmeet Singh
THE Toronto Star on Wednesday reported that sources had told them that Ontario MPP Jagmeet Singh (Bramalea-Gore-Malton) has put in place a team that is “quietly organizing” for him to possibly run for the federal NDP leadership.
But Singh told the newspaper: “At this point in time I’m not making a decision — I haven’t decided anything.”
However, back in May, he told the National Post: “If there was a grassroots movement then I would seriously consider it. I haven’t committed to anything, nor have I closed the door to anything.”
A month ago, a Punjabi newspaper carried a story that said NDPers wanted Jagmeet to run for the leadership as he was the only one who could take on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. That article could have possibly been floated to test the waters.
When Ontario NDP Leader Andrea Horwath appointed Jagmeet as Deputy Leader of the party in April 2015, making him the first turbaned Sikh to hold such a position in Canadian politics, it was generally assumed that he would give up any federal ambition.
But with the federal NDP’s poor performance in the October 2015 federal election and Tom Mulcair deciding to quit as leader, apparently Jagmeet has had second thoughts.
Jagmeet Singh became the first turbaned Sikh MPP in Ontario, in 2011 – after losing to Conservative Bal Gosal in the federal election.
He earned his B.Sc. in Biology from the University of Western Ontario in 2001 and his LL.B. from Osgoode Hall Law School at York University in 2005. He was called to the Bar of the Law Society of Upper Canada in 2006.
Prior to joining public office he was a trial lawyer practicing in the Brampton and Mississauga area.
According to Wikipedia, Jagmeet Singh “was born in Scarborough, Toronto as the oldest of the four children of Punjabi immigrants: his father Jagtaran Singh Dhaliwal, a psychiatrist and his mother, Harmeet Kaur Dhaliwal, a teacher.
“Singh briefly lived in Punjab, India before returning to Canada when his father enrolled in a medical school in Newfoundland, where the family stayed for five years. Singh’s family then settled in Windsor, Ontario where he grew up. Singh attended a private high school in Detroit, Detroit Country Day School, in Beverly Hills, Michigan, graduating in 1997.”
